In John's Gospel the matter of dispensing is very striking. Although we cannot find the word dispensing there, the matter of dispensing is implied very much in this book. John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh. The Word is God Himself. The Word became flesh to dispense God into us. Incarnation is for dispensing. If God had never become incarnated, He would have remained in His divinity, and there would have been no way for Him to dispense Himself into us. Incarnation was the initiation of the divine dispensing; it was the first step of God's dispensing of Himself into us. When God was incarnated, He came full of grace and reality (John 1:14). He did not come empty-handed. In incarnation God came in fullness; He came full of grace and reality.
Grace is God enjoyed by us. It is nothing less than God as our portion for our enjoyment. When we enjoy God, that is grace. Grace is not an expensive car or a big house; these things Paul counted as dung (Phil. 3:8). Grace is the very God Himself, subjectively enjoyed by us.
Reality is God gained by us. In the entire universe, nothing is real. Solomon told us that everything is vanity (Eccl. 1:2). Houses and cars are vanity; they are not reality. Only God gained by us is reality. In His incarnation God came to us full of grace and reality for us to receive. John 1:16 says, "For of His fullness we all received." God's fullness is His rich grace plus His rich reality.
When we go to the kitchen at dinner time, we can see a fullness there. The fullness may include beef, fish, melons, and many other kinds of food. This is the fullness of the kitchen. When we come to Jesus and call upon His name, within His name there is a fullness; this fullness is grace and reality. The Lord Jesus did not come empty-handed; He came with the fullness of the riches of the Triune God. The riches of the Triune God are just Himself as grace and reality. Now we all can receive Him.
However, without dispensing we cannot receive Him, because receiving is based on dispensing. If I do not speak, how can others hear? If God does not dispense, how can we receive Him? As the incarnated God, He is ready to dispense all that He is into us. He is dispensing Himself as grace and reality to His believers so that all His believers can receive Him again and again every day. The time of morning revival is a time for receiving. It is a time to eat Christ and drink Christ. When we come to the Lord's table, we come to eat and drink.
When we pray, we are actually breathing in the Lord, and this again is a receiving. It may seem as if we are merely praying, but actually we are receiving the living Lord as our water, food, air, and everything we need. On God's side, He is dispensing and distributing Himself; on our side, we are receiving. Every day our Christian life is one of receiving the dispensing from God. If I did not receive anything from God, I would have nothing to speak. While I am speaking, I am also receiving. This is a kind of transmission. On the one hand, while I am speaking, I am dispensing; on the other hand, while I am speaking, I am also receiving. My dispensing comes from my receiving of His dispensing.
The Christian work is a dispensing. When we preach the gospel by knocking on doors, we should not trust in ourselves. Rather, we should pray that when we open our mouth, while we are speaking, the Lord would supply us. Then, between us and the Lord there will be a transmission, and that transmission will enter into others and they will receive Christ.